Market pressure seen as feeding too much weight loss with new obesity drugs

In the ongoing tests of Eli Lilly’s next generation of obesity medicine, several trial participants meet an issue they never expected: they lose too many weight.

One participant lost 22% of her weight in nine-month-old faster than the speed that was seen with approved GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy or Zepbound. Her weight fell so much that researchers reduced her dose of treatment, called Retatrutide. Yet she continued to feel too nauseous, so she only decided to skip any other dose.

Another participant, who lost 30% of his weight in eight months, developed a kidney stone. It is not certain whether that was due to the weight loss, but a recent observational study linked GLP-1 medicines with an increased speed of kidney stones.

A third patient, whose weight 31% fell for a similar span, constantly eating high -calorie foods such as peanut butter to prevent them from losing more. “I go to my visits and they are:” Make sure you eat as much as possible as you can, “he said. It is strange” to be in an obesity test and try not to lose weight anymore. “

These trial participants, who asked not to be mentioned because they signed a confidentiality agreement when registering for the studies, all said that the drug was life -changing. (It has not been told whether they are in the treatment group or a placebo group, but given their dramatic weight loss, they believe they are in the first.)

Not only do the participants who are in the forty and 50s can lose a considerable amount of weight for the first time in their lives, but many of their related health problems – such as knee pain, high cholesterol and liver fat – are now also much better control.

At the same time, however, they find the effects of the drug’s weight loss too extreme.